Natsu stared in horror at where the Portal had snapped shut with an audible crack, overheard even as Acnologia roared again. The ground shook beneath his feet. Natsu barely noticed, nor did he care.

Gone. Lucy was gone, stepping through a Portal and leaving him behind. He knew she'd likely fled from the sheer panic that was still racing through her veins. But the brief loss that was shattered a moment later as she hit the ground harshly made him want to scream right back at the dragon towering above him. This was his fault. All his.

Acnologia clearly knew that Lucy was gone now. He shrieked in outrage, massive wings flaring out, and Natsu heard the screams and shouts of villagers and the Fairy Tail mages that had come alongside him. He winced when Wendy's trilling scream pierced the air, a furious challenge to the dragon who'd killed her mother. He'd told Gildarts to leave her at home, he thought in a panic when Acnologia's thunderous laugh filled the air.

He was so focused on Acnologia as he began to seek the sky dragon that he very nearly missed the loud yowl at his feet. His chin touched his chest and a startled bark of laughter escaped him as Happy, covered in dust and splinters, blinked up at him with delight. "Happy!" he rasped, offering an arm, and Happy scampered right up his shoulder.

It was comforting, Natsu thought as he took a deep breath, letting Happy steady him in a way he'd not been able to do in a while. He'd missed his little buddy, though he'd been angry with him at first and then grateful for the fact that he'd accompanied Lucy instead. He'd known that Lucy would need his company.

Happy's eyes burned with flames as Natsu slid his feet into a braced position and readied his magic, prepared to fight even if it meant a long, long period of recovery. Lucy was safe, and there were innocent lives that needed to be defended.

But before he could make any type of blow, Acnologia suddenly laughed, the sound booming out over them as he extended his wings. The fire in his throat died down, dread pumping through his veins as Acnologia spread his massive wings and beat them once, twice, thrice, shoving his massive body into the sky.

He was leaving.

All of that, and he was leaving.

Natsu got the feeling he wasn't even going to chase after Lucy, wherever she was. It was as if he'd come to make a point, and had fulfilled his quota on scaring the hell out of them all. He heard a shout of his name over the heavy sounds and glanced back in time to find Jellal barreling towards him, footsteps loud and echoing in between the beats of Acnologia's wings. Natsu opened his mouth to call a greeting, but was stunned into silence when someone came chasing after him, laughing.

It took him a second longer to realize that Jellal was faltering, clutching a shoulder. Natsu's rage returned tenfold when he saw the three or four arrows protruding from the same location. Natsu didn't hesitate to react, waiting until Jellal had sprinted past, flashing him an almost rueful smile.

Jellal's attacker appeared to have missed Natsu's presence in his narrow-minded chase, for he was almost too late in noticing Natsu's flaming fist as it struck out, as quick as a spitting cobra. He recoiled at the last second, earning only singed skin and stinging burns. Natsu snarled when the weapon in his hand shot up, the arrow flying and slamming home.

Natsu bellowed in pain as he threw a hand up to block it, the arrow easily piercing his arm. He jolted when the other side nearly got his eye anyways. Happy shrieked on his shoulder in warning when the weapon was fired again. Natsu retreated, startled by the man's speed and confused by the weapon he'd never seen before. Somewhat a bow, but not entirely, and it fired arrows at wicked speeds he'd not expected.

Baring his teeth, Natsu ripped the arrow from his arm and lurched forward, letting Happy control the level of fire that exploded from his mouth. The man screamed in surprise and pain, downed in seconds. Natsu clacked his teeth when he snapped his mouth shut, furious, and when he was sure the man had been dealt with, he rounded on Jellal, gaze sweeping over the Keeper of Visions. "The hell is going on, Jellal?"

Jellal looked pale behind his cloth, mouth tight with pain. "Erza," he rasped, and Natsu wondered where his pet goblin was, too. "She was bit by a venomous snake of some kind. Lucy understood your warning, and it appeared as we were leaving. Gray and Lucy went into the stables to prepare the mounts, but -" He made a wild motion, frustrated. "Two people entered after them, and I knew it wouldn't be good. I couldn't leave Erza undefended. So I took her somewhere safe and left her protected, but when I came back…" He motioned to the ruined stables. "Salutem was running around and the building was in pieces."

Natsu shoved back the instinctive frustrated rage that slammed through him. Jellal hadn't just left Lucy unprotected. Gray had been there, and he had a duty to his Guardian, before anyone else. Very carefully, he checked on Lucy and was relieved to find that though frantic and anxious, her fear had faded. Safe. He had no idea where she was, but she was safe.

"That," continued Jellal, pointing at the moaning man on the ground, "is, I believe, a mercenary known as Racer. I don't know what he's doing here, or who the others were, but I'm sure we'll figure out that much soon enough."

Natsu opened his mouth to respond, as well as offer to cauterize the heavily bleeding wounds on the Keeper's shoulder as Jellal fumbled with the arrows, determining if he should remove them or wait until someone else was around. Before he could, however, Happy suddenly hurled himself from Natsu's shoulder and sprinted for the stable behind them. Natsu yanked around to watch, blinking in confusion when the feline vanished among them - and promptly started yowling as if he'd not been fed in weeks.

"Happy?" he muttered, following his familiar. Jellal remained where he was, fully content to keep an eye on Racer, who Natsu had ensured wouldn't be running around again anytime soon.

Happy kept his utterly ear-piercing cries up until Natsu had found him among the debris, crouched beside none other than a wary looking Gray. The half-demon looked startled to see him, though Natsu wasn't sure why. Surely he'd heard he and Jellal speaking, if not fighting?

"Look what the cat dragged in," drawled Gray sarcastically, and Natsu smirked down at him, doing a quick check over. Gray wasn't injured too badly despite being pinned. A thin shield of ice kept the heavy beam trapping him from crushing him too badly. Natsu cocked his head, wondering why he'd not just removed it himself - until he realized that if Gray moved that single beam, the rest of the material above his head would come crashing down, and with Gray's position, the ice wouldn't be strong enough to protect him. Not unless he used the demonic aspects of his magic, though Natsu wasn't sure why he'd not use that.

Until he remembered who, precisely, Gray had last seen manipulating such magic. Like hell anyone with a decent heart would ever want to use that demonic magic to help others or themselves when they'd seen it used so many times to destroy, regardless of whether they wanted to admit it or had used it previously.

Natsu forced himself to bare his teeth in a mocking grin as he settled into a crouch, ignoring the black blood pouring from the wound in his arm. He'd need to avoid the others until that was sufficiently patched up, which meant pretending he was fine and ignoring Wendy's determined advances. "Stuck?" he said, playfully snapping his teeth as Igneel had always done when annoyed.

Gray glowered. "Shut up, pyro, and get me the hell out of this."

Natsu summoned Happy to him. He pressed a hand to the beam pinning him and watched with a cocked head as it and the wood around them slowly began turning to cinders beneath the careful heat he coaxed into it, burning without allowing a roaring inferno to take place. When the wood had all turned to ash, Natsu ensured Gray was able to stand, limping only slightly from what would likely be heavy bruising come morning, and returned to where Jellal was.

Jellal was frowning, looking west. "Is Gildarts here? I can sense him."

"Yeah, he and a couple others came through," said Natsu firmly. "Why?"

"You're going to need him, though I'll help as well, naturally," said a voice in Natsu's ear, and Natsu instinctively snapped an elbow back, bursting into flames. Loke side-stepped the blow with shocking ease, glaring at him before focusing on the situation at hand. Natsu felt a flicker of confusion. Natsu found himself curling around that confusion until it was soothed away. Loke cocked his head. "Too many Portals...do you feel it? This area is collapsing, and the mythics in the surrounding area…"

He didn't need to finish.

The wendigo would be child's play.

Even the Wild Hunt were likely at this point, and that was the very last thing they needed.

"We have to Portal all these people out," rasped Gray, face set in a horrified expression. His eyes were wide, his hands raking through his hair. "And they're scattering to the wind!"

Jellal scowled and yanked the cloth from his eyes, spinning slowly in place. Gray jolted out of the way, realizing there were still arrows embedded in his body that Jellal had chosen to leave in for the time being. Natsu rolled his eyes. Sometimes, he thought to himself, reaching out to carefully burn the arrows into halves so they'd not be quite so hard to work around, Jellal was blind to the world right in front of him.

Jellal didn't bother to acknowledge his actions, and Natsu didn't try to address them. Gray, however, stared at him as if he'd grown a second head. Loke watched with keen interest - likely judging every move Natsu made. Natsu wouldn't have been surprised; Loke had always seemed to be the sort, ensuring that everything they did was set on the right path without doing much to correct their actions if it wasn't.

"My suggestion," Loke said quietly, thoughtful, "is that you spread out in teams. Gather everyone in the center of town. Start Portaling them, quick as you can. There should be a few magic wielders. Just ensure that you watch out for the group that attacked the town initially. You'll want to make sure they don't take advantage of the confusion. Jellal," Loke continued, turning to him, "you needn't be so worried about Erza. She'll recover. The person who owns the snake mentioned that she'd received a non-lethal dose."

Jellal breathed out a soft sigh of relief. "You have my gratitude, Loke," he said sincerely, and then rounded on Gray. "Come, we should find Gildarts and the others. We'll inform them of the plan. Natsu, I think it best if you perhaps work with Loke." He paused, eyeing the pair. "Unless your grudge against him is too much to allow it?"

Was that snark? Natsu wasn't sure, but it sure sounded like it. Rolling his eyes, Natsu scowled. "I don't like when people trick and lie," he snarled, "but I know that there's a time and place for stuff, Jellal." Most of the time, anyways.

Jellal nodded curtly and then sprinted away with Gray, who shouted over his shoulder, "Cut off the exit points, Natsu! Circle the town in flames so they can't leave it! We need them to gather, not run!"

Natsu didn't necessarily want to go with Gray's plan, but he didn't have an alternative - nor was it actually a bad idea. So, as he knelt down and pressed his fingers to the stone beneath his feet to do just that, he let Happy control his flames so that he could ask curtly, "Why are you here? Why aren't you with Lucy?" Her name was heavy on his tongue. So close. So close. And she was gone again, off to some unknown location.

Loke was quiet for a few seconds, listening to the screams increase as fire surrounded the small town, trapping those trying to flee within. "Lucy gave an order. I followed it." Natsu slid a silently demanding look at the spirit as he rose to his feet. "She is, technically, our Keeper, so the magic requires we do as she says," he said with a shrug. "And she told me to take Aries to Yukino, and Gemini to Levy and Gajeel. I was to give my key," he presented the key he'd been holding since his arrival to Natsu, "to you. Because even after everything that happened, she trusts you to protect it."

Natsu hesitantly took it, studying the familiar golden key with his mouth pressed into a hard line. His fingers curled tightly around it. Guilt twisted in his gut again. He still hadn't forgiven Lucy entirely, but...he was so damn tired of being angry about the matter, and he missed her so fiercely now that he'd thought about seeing her that he couldn't bear it.

"I'll make sure it gets back to her," Natsu rasped, pocketing the key, and Loke nodded curtly.

"See that you do." Loke lifted his chin. "She didn't explicitly state this, but seeing as we were once at least decent friends, I suppose you deserve to know that she is safe and protected. Two of the people who attacked her changed their minds fairly quickly when they realized she was your Marked One and not just your friend. Apparently you're notorious even in the underworld of Fiore for going after those you deem worthy of revenge. They'll protect her to protect their own skin. She said she'd aim for Yukino's. I've taken two other keys to safe locations - to prevent Acnologia from getting them until Lucy feels it's safe enough to retrieve them." With that, he was gone, carefully disappearing into a Portal. The world buckled around it and Natsu shuddered at the feeling of it, eyeing where the ground had cracked and threatened to fissure.

When he'd gone, Natsu turned to look at the devastation before him and ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. There was so much to do - so many people to gather, so many things that would come running as soon as they realized what was happening, so many thoughts in his head, and so many feelings surrounding Lucy.

But for now, he'd focus on getting people out of this now dangerous place.

Juvia barreled down a street, working with Gildarts to track down any others that might be there. Those who'd attacked the small town were either in custody, dead (like their leader, who had ultimately forced Gildarts's hand), or fleeing only to find themselves trapped by the flames that had surrounded the town, shockingly red and orange and yellow. Juvia would have thought they'd be black with Natsu's temper.

Now, it was a race against time to gather those who were trying to flee and encourage them to come to the safety the Fairy Tail members were offering.

Juvia heaved for air as she rounded a corner, and tripped to a halt with a shocked look. Beside her, Gildarts muttered a small curse of surprise. "Erza?" Juvia managed to wheeze, her blue eyes rounding owlishly as she stared.

The scarlet-haired valkyrie stood in the center of the wide dirt-paved street, trembling from the effort of merely standing. She had braced her feet on either side of the person beneath her, her sword pointed at their throat. The Guardian looked cold with her rage, her teeth clenched, and Jellal's goblin clutched at one of her legs with nervous grubby fingers, peering at them around the woman's leg.

"Friends," it squeaked.

Erza didn't look up, her gaze locked on the shaking man she glared down at. "Which ones?"

"Big god. Pretty siren."

"Juvia," recognized Erza aloud. She thought it over, and then guessed,"Gildarts?"

"It's good to see you, Erza, but what the hell are you doing?" Gildarts asked tightly, gaze shifting between the pair. Erza was ghostly pale, her eyes underlined with black bruises. She looked on the verge of passing out.

Erza smirked down at the man, who seemed rather weak against her. Then again, it could have been age, Juvia thought. His blond hair was springled with ashen gray, face creased with lines. "This," she crooned, "is Lucy's ancestor Algieba. The son of Anna, and the one who brought Acnologia here, as short as his visit was. We thought it odd," she added to the glowering Algieba, "when you seemed so nervous. You kept looking up, Algieba. You should have learned to hide such telling signs better. My Keeper was injured in this battle, you understand." She cocked her head, tipping his chin back with her sword, and Algieba swallowed nervously. "I would be well in my right to execute you for it. No matter what you are, the magic grants me such rights. But, I was and always will be a member of Fairy Tail, regardless of what else I become, so I will allow you to live for now." She moved her sword aside, stepping away, and Algieba slumped against the ground with a groan.

"Arrest him," she told Juvia and Gildarts fiercely. And when Algieba merely smiled faintly, relieved, she smirked once more and suggested, "Perhaps Natsu would be interested in interrogating him. That is, if Natsu cares to. I've heard that he's still not too happy with Lucy."

"He's upset," said Juvia as Gildarts scowled and went to do just as Erza had said. "He's not forgiven her quite yet, but he's ready to listen, Juvia thinks."

"Good. I do not like seeing such occurrences when it comes to people I consider friends and family," Erza said curtly. She flicked her sword, letting it disappear - and buckled at the knees. Juvia lurched forward to catch her and Erza hissed. "Forgive me, I was attacked by a very large snake, and it appears that though I may be recovering, it will be some time before I am steady on my feet."

Juvia smiled tighty at her, and then turned her head to look over her shoulder at Gildarts. Gildarts nodding, a hand tight on Algieba's shoulder. "Come," Juvia said confidently, eyeing the flames that surrounded them. "Let's see if we can find someone who might know where Jellal is…"

As quite a few hoped, Natsu's view! Sort of. Some fun stuff continuing to happen~ Ah, there's something coming I've been excited about for months.

On another note, today marks the second anniversary of ODAS! Happy two years! In celebration, I'll be releasing an extra chapter on February 17th or 18th!

Thanks to reviewers (TigerArrowgirl, XxCelestialAssassinxX, AthomeinFairytail, PersephoneQOTU, Sele de la Luna, rao hyuga 18, Saint Artemis, Uchida Akira, ColdDayinDecember, Guest#1, lazygirlabc, 19vanelkc, Alera33, Lissuin, ckc14, valerioux, GoldenPadfoot148, Skibblez, Annit, madaraswife, Meow Orbit, Bookwork129, stranger1999, itsxoi, Kaisha, zizi08, Kisa7221, BeautifulSamurai, FairyTailxFanGirl, Maikoa, Lodemai04, theHumbleGM, and shortymcnugget!) as well as those who favorited and followed!